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Daily Archives: April 6, 2018

If you have joined an online quilting group using Facebook, you may have wondered why your group has rules and guidelines. Creating and running any kind of online group is time consuming. The more people that join a group means that the individuals who monitor and oversee the group have more work to do.

WORK?!?!? Oh yes, there is work! Here is an example:

The first group I ever started was called CELEBRATE HAND QUILTING. The group is still going strong! I started writing this blog post this morning, I checked the group to see how many members are in it. Here is what it shows:

17,240 Members. Oh my goodness!

Everytime a new member asks to join the group, someone (an administrator) has to check and verify that the new person either is already a quilter, has friends who are quilters, expresses a strong interest in becoming a quilter, and more (depending on which group it is. Checking all of this information takes time, and some of our administrators have families and/or work to deal with.

Many groups have fun activities. For example: Celebrate Hand Quilting has a weekly theme which is coordinated by Janet, one of our Admins. Each week, Janet comes up with a fantastic theme and posts the information for that theme online. One of our most recent themes was “SCRAP QUILTS.” So all of the members of the group got busy and looked to see if they have a scrap quilt that they have made previously OR they may contact any quilt guild members they know who has made a scrappy quilt. They may also decide that they want to make a scrap quilt of their own, so the weekly theme prompts them to begin their own NEW scrap quilt!

What if a new “Member Wanna Be” asks to join the group BUT they have never quilted before, don’t know anybody who has hand quilted, don’t own a quilt, etc. Are they kicked out? That all depends on what group it is and what the guidelines of the group are. Most of the time we allow new members into the group but keep tabs on them for awhile. If the person shows great interest and starts asking some fantastic questions that new quilters would want to know, then they would probably soon be admitted into the group.

SADLY, though, sometimes we get new members who want to be in a group, but all they want to do is argue about the rules, complain about a person in the group or about a theme, etc. One or more of the Administrators would more than likely review that person’s request and comments, and then decide that the group does not need a “Grumpy Gloria” or a “Crabby Craig” taking all the fun away. Thus, they would probably be removed from the group. Removing anyone from the group is never fun, and we don’t enjoy doing that. However, for the sake of ALL the members, it is sometimes necessary.

Before you decide to join a group, PLEASE always take a few minutes to review the group guidelines. Read them carefully! If you have questions, contact one of the Admins and feel free to ask! We hope you make lots of new friends and learn a lot of new things!